The Adventures of Chopper Chick!: Snowed in Texas last night.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Snowed in Texas last night.

Strange to see vehicles driving around with snow on them during our morning commute on the freeway in the city to class this morning at the Bell Factory School.

It's now late at night, not much time to do much of anything but school and meet my classmates along with many others that are attending. I hear Harrison Ford will be here tomorrow attending the 407 refresher course. He's got a big picture of himself with his 407 autographed in the breakroom.

Bell school is amazing. Some of the best training in the world. We are having a great time here and learning almost too much to take in.

I've read all your comments and can't wait to get back to them soon. Just enough time to blog and share my adventures. Everyone's comments put a smile on my face. I love reading them. Thanks!

A fellow college/friend of mine took a helicopter job in Dubai with her fiance. She sent me a quick email the other day when she arrived there. I asked her if I could share it on my blog which she said yes. I thought is was pretty cool the last thing she noticed there.

Read on.......

Elizabeth wrote.....

After nearly 35 hours of traveling (which includes 18 hours of flight time) I have arrived safely in Dubai. Kirk had to work during my first day in town, so I took the opportunity to explore our new surroundings. We live on the Dubai Marina – less than 1 mile from the ocean, and a few miles away from the Burj Al Arab hotel. It feels and sounds like a massive construction site. Buildings all over the place have recently popped up, and they are crawling with cranes and laborers.
I took a walk down the marina and hopped over to the beach. My body was telling me that it was 2am, yet there I was in broad daylight, walking barefoot in the Arabian Gulf and collecting seashells. The beach was highly populated, mostly with sunburned Europeans donning bikinis and speedos. I came across a man in full native attire (covered head/face and all) riding a camel near the water. Trailing him was an additional camel for giving tourists rides. As I got closer he had his camel sit down, at which point he dismounted and sat in the shade that his animal provided. Then he proceeded to pull out his cell phone and started texting. Surreal to say the least!
All is well.
xoxo

Too cool huh? Gotta love the texting with the camel!

4 comments:

camerapilot said...: Great stuff Dez!
Harrison Ford, a very cool dude......
A friend of mine rides her 650 Suzuki to the set most of the time and Harrison saw this biker roar up, take the helmet off and all this long hair come tumbling out. He introduced himself, checked out her bike and offered her his bike to try out......
Each day Harrison drove in on a new bike for her to try. After about a week and a half of this he said "I don't have anymore."
It's flip-flop weather here!
Gotta go to work!; 4:35 AM
Greybeard said...: Hey Dez...
If you run into my friend Kevin B., (and Kevin is hard to miss!), tell him I said hello from Saluki land!; 12:00 PM
camerapilot said...: Surreal moment with camel man, that's too much lol!
When the Democratic National Convention was in town I was there with my camera and came across many a surreal scenes, it was a zoo.
Making my way through the throng I spied a man who called himself Jesus.
He wore a white tunic and bore a large cross upon his shoulder, the bottom of his cross he had affixed a wheel so that the end would roll and not drag. Is that classified as a tail dragger? Anyway as he rolled his cross around the parking lot of the Staples Center he had his cell phone and was in a deep conversation which he interrupted when a vendor selling dove bars came rolling by with his cart.
Ah, only in LA.
Seeing this madness on the ground I know why I cherish my time above it, in my plane, watching shadows, feeling currents against the aluminum skin. I feel like I'm body surfing sometimes, going with the current and not fighting it.
I saw five or six turkey vultures the other day as I walked the Rotti, even he looked up and noticed their graceful flight.
Faulkner had a quotation about vultures which always made me stop and think......
"If I were reincarnated, I'd want to come back a buzzard. Nothing hates him or wants him or needs him. He is never bothered or in danger, and he can eat anything."; 7:12 PM
Desiree said...: camerapilto and greybeard, thanks! i don't recall running into kevin. bummer. :); 6:53 PM

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PHPA / Professional Helicopter Pilots Association

Promoting safety and
understanding among
helicopter pilots, the PHPA
continues its mission
contributing to the critical
operations maintaining safe
helicopter missions and
acting as a liaison with the
community.

Coordinating efforts towards improving communications, methods of operation within the airspace system, or any other area that will contribute to the safety and education of all pilots;
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Promote community relations between the public and the helicopter industry.

The PHPA is a national
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corporate office in
Los Angeles, California.

Become a member and help
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Go to:
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Board of Directors
Executive Officers & Board of Directors
Robert Butler - President
Alan Frawert - Vice President
Tom White - Secretary
James Paules - Treasurer
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Morris Cohen
Guillaume Maillet
Chuck Street
Ed Story
Desiree Horton
Gary Hollbrook
Pat Carey

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Ricarda Bennett Esq - Legal Advisor
Alex Calder - Web Administrator

How I got started..........

For those of you who are looking at a life of flying helicopters or just curious how I started and got where I am today, read on.......................

I have been flying helicopters for over 18 years and mostly here in Los Angeles until recently in 2005 when I started fighting fire as a contract pilot all over the U.S. during the summer and in the off season on occasion. Currently I fly for about six different companies as a free lance contract pilot. My main company that I work for is Heli-Flite/Aris Helicopters in Riverside, CA, where I do Aerial Construction flying, fly for Corona Police Department, and fly fires during fire season. In the off months outside of fire season I fly some news and photo and movie production flights for various other companies which some of them I have been working with for over ten years. Since I have received many emails in regards to how does one become a helicopter pilot.....I am giving a little insight to those of you who ask how I got started and how much it costs to become a pilot, well it's a long story and everyone has a different story as to how they got their start. Some people had it easy, some people had it tough, some joined the military, others did the civilian route. There are so many different ways to do it and no one has the same story. As far as cost, well it was alot less 18 years ago, so you will have to check with a flight school on that one. I started flying when I was 19 years old and at the time I couldn't get a loan, so I worked two jobs 7 days a week and after two years, finally got my private. If you can get loan, it will not take you that long as I could only afford a couple of lessons a month. I never got my CFI as I found other ways to build time. Even 18 years ago being a CFI did not pay the bills, so I worked other jobs and flew part time over the years to build my time. I washed helicopters in exchange for flight time. I even paid for left seat time for quite some time to build hours. I jumped on any chance I could get for free flight time riding along with other pilots in an empty seat. I made lots of sacrafices and had no time to myself. It was all about flying, kinda how it still is today. hahaha. Anyway, I started a dba and made brochures and brought myself my own flight business doing tours and photo flights out of a Hughes 269 and an R22. Eventually I had some money to put myself through Bell Factory School which enabled me to fly a Jetranger early in my career with very little time. Back then insurance companies did not require massive amounts of flight time. With just 300 hours and factory school, I now had a jetranger to run my tours in. It eventually led to flying for other companies. Sending myself to Bell school opened up opportunities and possibilities for me. It was also my reputation that opened doors. Attitude is everything. You will not suceed in this business with a poor attitude. Keep that in mind. Trust me, I'm not perfect. We all don't have perfect attitudes, but you know what I mean. My job offers took off from there. I was doing tours for various small tour companies and flight schools and then started flying traffic watch, then soon I was flying news in a 206 which later led to an astar. When I got into fire, I sent myself to long line and mountain flying school. Sometimes if you want something, you will have to pay for it to get ahead and open doors for yourself. I found a company that hired me with no fire experience. With my training I had paid for and experience from flying over the years I was on my way to do what I had always dreamed of doing, fighting fire from a helicopter. I was patient as it took time to get where I am today. You have to be patient sometimes. I still get impatient on occasion and want it all now, but it just doesn't work that way. So my advice to up and coming pilots who ask how to do it? Find a good school, find some money, stick with it, don't ever stop, don't make excuses, don't let others discourage you as that will happen your entire career, and you will suceed and get what you want eventually. Good luck!

By the way, some pilots never stop paying their dues. Sometimes if you want certain things to happen in your career you will find yourself making the same sacrafices later on, but the sacrafices seem even greater because with time, comes more responsibility and more to lose when sacrafices are made. But sometimes the gain is worth it!